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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

"After 24 months of constant development, the Debian project is proud to present its new stable version 6.0 (code name 'Squeeze'). Debian 6.0 is a free operating system, coming for the first time in two flavours. Alongside Debian GNU/Linux, Debian GNU/kFreeBSD is introduced with this version as a 'technology preview'. Debian 6.0 includes the KDE Plasma Desktop and Applications, the GNOME, Xfce, and LXDE desktop environments as well as all kinds of server applications. It also features compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.2 of the LSB. Debian runs on computers ranging from palmtops and handheld systems to supercomputers, and on nearly everything in between. A total of nine architectures are supported by Debian GNU/Linux."

Rock solid distro, User friendly, maximum number of Apps, Old and New PCS

Cons:

None

Biggest complaint about debian is that it is not user friendly. Without learning any thing about linux except the experience, I have been using Debian since 2002 and I did not find Debian unfriendly towards linux novices. Of course you have to get acclimatised yourself in using any OS WHETHER IT IS Linux or it is Windows.The greatest thing about Debian is the amount of freedom it offers to its users and Debian Squeeze by removing binary blobs from its kernel has moved forward to the ideals of FSF. I use an old PC of 2002 make and I find no difficulty in running Debian Squeeze on the same.Those who complain of non-availability of bleeding edge versions of software, my advice is please try denian testing or debian unstable. But for a linux-novice like me, it is better to stick to the stable versions as I WONT HAVE TO BUG-REPORT REGULARLY AS IN FEDORA OR UBUNTU. Congratulations to Debian developers for bringing out such a beautiful system adhearing to their owm manifesto and spirit of FSF. A big thanks!

I use at home a Debian Linux since the 2.0 version to the version 6 today. My computer have been modified sevral times from an AMD 386DX40MHz to an AMD Phenom II X4 3GHz, all peripherals was changed and Debian was always running well
No error message, no freeze, and always easy to find the software or driver necessary.
I'm not sure any other Linux version other than Debian will do as well as it.
Ubuntu is based on Debian, I never try it but I'm curious to see if it's running as well as Debian.

Just migrated both of my computers from Ubuntu 10.10 to Debian 6.0.1. The installation process made migrating my server much easier, and post-installation I had a fairly secure SSH and Apache server set up without having to do anything myself other than click through the installation. On my laptop, the desktop experience has been superb, very clean and easy to navigate. If you're looking for the father of Ubuntu with a little more stability than 6 month release cycles, and want to escape the inevitable push of Unity, Debian is an excellent choice. The Net Install disc downloads all of its packages from the Debian servers, which eliminates the need to install a million updates post-install, which was another plus. Overall, Debian is an excellent operating system that serves as the perfect replacement for the technical Ubuntu user looking to escape the dumbing down.&lt;br&gt;

I ran a Cups print server on debian /Gnu Linux in 2005 that saved my life.
I use a Dell laptop at home with Debian since 2004 .
The performance of this system is outstanding from day 1.
From the upgrade from Etch to Lenny there was a sensible increase of performance on top of it. I use also a File /Backup server on a Dell desktop. My laptop is backup everyday automaticaly using rsync and cron.
I can't use Windows any more. If I am asked to fix a Windows machine I'll do it but I lose patience when I have to wait and wait and wait on a single tasking multi-Windows system.
I really lost the habit of waiting after a computer.
No more waiting Debian/Gnu Linux is the way to go.
All my computers are single core CPUs. Imagine what it would be with two or more cores with an SSD drive.

Would you recommend the product? no | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 6

Pros:

Lots of software available

Cons:

Not as stable as it claims

I installed Debian 6 to hard disk using the DVD version. The installer has two problems: the partitioning tool is rather confusing, and if you want to put Grub on a partition, the installer tell you to name it /dev/hdx instead of the correct /dev/sdx. Apart from giving you the choice of server and laptop support, it still lacks the customisation one has in Fedora: no choice of desktop environment or of software. It was also very slow: 45 minutes.

For installing software there are two graphical programs available, but neither was as helpful as it might be. The search function in each was odd: searching for &quot;units&quot; gave things like Tuxpaint and Wesnoth!

There was a generous quantity of software installed, and I was pleasantly surprised to find media codecs installed. On the other hand, the Gnash plugin was unusable in all websites I tried; I installed Flash, but I had to reboot to get it to take effect.

I always run some programs from the command line, to check for errors: these occured in Inkscape, Totem, Epiphany, and Tomboy. I haven't seen so many critical warnings since testing Arch! What were they doing while Squeeze was frozen for debugging? At one stage I lost my ethernet and nothing short of rebooting got it back.

As I said of Debian 5, I can't see why people use it. All distros have to strike their own balance between currency and stability, and Debian seems to offer neither.

I have used Debian since the release of Etch and now use Squeeze (GNOME 2.30.2) on both my desktop and Acer Extensa 5235 laptop. I would most certainly recommend Debian 6, (Stable or Squeeze) to more experienced Gnu/Linux users who prefer a rock-solid desktop system with server-like stability over a long period of time from its release date until the next major release and which continues to be supported for about a year after that: For example, the previous version, Lenny was released on 14th February 2009 and will receive security updates and bug-fixes for about a year after the release of Debian 6 so oldstable, Lenny may be supported until the Spring of 2012 -three years. If a user so desires, he/she can add much more up-to-date software including the Linux kernel itself by adding Debian's (now official) backports repository.
Debian is a 100% free distribution with no corporate interests behind it but rather a community; it is thus free from branding, logos and other commercial paraphernalia so its users are not regarded as potential customers of proprietary applications.
I am able to run my computers with 100% free software (using open source Atheros Wifi and Intel graphic card drivers) from Debian's main repository with the exception of Adobe Flash player, necessary to view flash content on so many websites; however, here now exist free software applications including minitube and umplayer which can be installed easily on Debian 6 for watching Youtube videos in addition to vlc and other multimedia applications available from the repositories.
Finally, although it takes time, study and patience to set up a Debian system exactly as one wants it, it is well worth the effort.

stable, faster, efficient, free, can be used as a workstation, server (db, mail, file, print) and desktop

Cons:

Debian GNU/Linux is the linux distro I am comfortable with. I started using linux in 2003. I started with RedHat 9, then Madriva, CentOS, RedHat AS 4, Slackware, SuSE Linux, openBSD, DesktopBSD, FreeBSD, openSUSE, and then finally settled on debian GNU/Linux. I have used debian starting with Sarge, Lenny and now Squeeze. I use it for spatial database (PostgreSQL + PostGIS, PgAdmin III, Tomcat6, JST, opengeo suit, Apache2). I love it because all the software packages are on the eight dvds and these include: GRASS GIS, QGIS, SAGA GIS, GPSdrive, GMT, GEOS, PROJ4, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, MySQL, Apache2, PHP, Perl, Python and the GUIs. I have only downloaded and configured uDIG GIS, openJUMP and gvSIG GIS.

For those who love games there are a number of them. It also has alot of education programmes for children and adults. It also has moodle software which can be used in school for monitoring students. They has also added a statistical programme called PSPP and others. This is great. All these run out of the box.

I can easily configure it as a database server, web server, mail server, file server, workstation or desktop. I use it as a web server (Apache2 and Tomcat6) and spatial database (PostgreSQl, PostGIS)

Excessively purist attitude of the Debian project is sometimes harmful

I've been using Debian for about ten years, and see no reason to switch. Yet.

However, sometimes the excessively purist attitudes of the Debian people are harmful. Most Linux users, including me, want software that is truly "free", that is, not encumbered by proprietary restrictions. For example, I use evince, not Adobe's software, to read pdf files.

Now, people can argue about what is truly "free". I think this is unproductive, and am happy to go along with the FSF's notion of freedom. Not Debian! They exclude from their distro most of the "info" files that document the software in GNU. All this documentation comes with a licence that lets you change the technical content, incorporate bits of it in documents you write and distribute, etc, but that's not good enough for Debian. I think their attitude is simply childish.

Then there's Firefox. Firefox is free software; you can modify it, incorporate functions from it into software you write and distribute, etc but again that's not good enough for Debian, because the Firefox logo is not freely licensed. So they build a browser from the Firefox source code and call it "Iceweasel". Of course, the very fact that they can even do this proves that the Firefox source code is "free" in every way that matters. But Debian users have the choice of using an out-of-date version of Firefox under the name "Iceweasel", or downloading the latest version from the Mozilla website. Needless to say, I'm using Firefox.

Of course there will be people whose response is to argue for Debian's position. But that completely misses the point. Quasi-religious arguments about the precise meaning of "free" do not help the free-software community.

Excellent system, haven't had a problem yet, the very few issues I've had were quickly solved with a little bit of Googling or postings to the Debian forums. All my hardware was detected so no complaints there. The biggest thing for me is that I need not have to upgrade any more, as new updates come up they're downloaded and applied to the system. No system is without bugs, but I think developers have done a great job with Lenny. So far, everything just works. I've considered trying testing, but stability is more important at the moment (not suggesting testing is unstable, just expect things may not work as expected). Look forward to seeing what the next incarnation will look like with Gnome 3.

I have been using Debian GNU/Linux starting with Debian GNU/Linux 3 "Surge". Currently I am using Debian 6 "squeeze" which comes on 8 dvds. It has all the GIS software I need which ranges from GRASS GIS, Saga GIS, openJUMP, thuban GIS, uDIG, QGIS, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, MySQL Spatial, Mapserver, gmt etc.

The PostGIS in Action book I bought from Amazon has helped me in understanding spatial databases e.g. PostgreSQL/PostGIS, GRASS GIS, QGIS.

A person/institution implementing GIS can use open-source software which is cheaper compared to proprietary software such as ArcGIS/ERDAS/ENVI. GRASS GIS can at times out perform ArcGIS as per a thesis which I ready. It comapred GRASS GIS 6 with ArcGIS 9.

On the other hand debian can also be used as a database server to house PostgreSQL/PostGIS and apache2 web server.

Easy to configure, but requires learning how to.; Documentation occassionally difficult to find.

The pros:

Despite the claims to the contrary, Debian is easy to install. For beginners, it is simply choose yes to the prompts. Just like most other distributions. For advanced users, there is also the option of expert installation.

The Stable version is rock solid. It is as bug-free as an OS can get.

The users' forum is a large repository of information.

The cons:

Although Debian is very easy to configure, it requires a small amount of esoteric knowledge. For example, setting languages. For some reason, unless using KDE, there is no option in the settings menu to add or change languages. That must be done by entering the CLI command; dpkg-reconfigure locales. It is incredibly easy to do, but without that small tidbit of knowledge, it is impossible to do.

Although there is lots of documentation, much of it is not easy to find, because, in my opinion, the documentation section of the web-site is not well organised. A problem for beginners is that documentation in general is written for intermediate and advanced users. Fortunately, as previously stated, the forum has a copious amount of information.

Overall, I highly recommend Debian. Beginners will have a little difficulty with configuration, but after learning a little, they will not have any problems. Those who possess even basic Linux knowledge will have few if any problems.

Debian's new releases, albiet slow in coming about, are better with every release. Squeeze is no exception. I used to rely on Ubuntu for the bleeding edge, but with a decent selection from debian backports I have move to Debian alone.

Install is fairly easy with even minimal computer experience.
95% of my hardware worked out of the box.
All actions feel smooth, fast, and clean, especially with compiz
Safe and secure as with all Debian products
Customizable
As with all *deb distros, great pkg slection

I found some things were missing if I did clean install with only Xfce as the defualt window manager, synaptic among other things. I installed with gnome and then added Xfce, so it's all there now.
Definitely prefer it over Ubuntu for it's reliability and far fewer quirky bugs -- more anomalies than bugs, like playing fullscreen flash video on my lapton screen instead of my external display. And this was Ubuntu 10.04 LTS -- should have sorted that out. All Debian these days.
It would be nice if you could get software from unstable or testing more easily, but it's not terrible either. Usually 10 minutes to find a how-to somewhere and follow steps, instead of 1 minute in synaptic.
Not perfectly free of bugs, but pretty damn close for an OS you don't have to think about just to work normally, *cough*slackware*cough

I've been using Debian for about seven years, and I find it very stable, fast, secure and easy to maintenance. I use Debian at home (desktop PC and laptop) and at work and everywhere it works out of box (including the wireless card, printer, scanner, etc.). And it's not true that it is difficult and for advanced users. From time to time I test a variety of other distributions, but I always go back to Debian. I sincerely recommend this distribution.

Not always latest software available, less popular so availablility of software is not as good as ubuntu's

Debian6 has been running on a small home pc as a server for over a year now, of which the last 280 days without a need to shut it down or reboot. It's stable, truely free because there are by default not even applications installed that have their name licensed. Because the most popular desktop distro, ubuntu, is based on debian and still very much alike is it's easy to find support for just about anything on the internet.
I've used this for quite a while as desktop OS as well but because of problems with skype not being available for the x64 version at the time I changed to ubuntu for that. For servers that will just be doing their designated task it's the best OS and OS version there is! Because of my problems with availability of proprietary software and not always having the lastest software available only an 8/10

Very Stable distro, I installed the netinstall version and used Fluxbox, Thunar and Rxvt for my 'Desktop'. Easy to install and huge support via Debian/Ubuntu packages. easy package management with Synaptic and Gdebi-Gtk. Great for a minimal install and add/build your own progs. A useful installation guide for the netinstall version can be found at http://minimallinux.blogspot.com which will get you up and running in 10 minutes so great for newbies who want to get a little more involved.

A very carefree and trustworthy OS - just install and go. Very conscience-free too, as its package manager is designed to be very conservative with the proprietary code. I'm running it on my Acer netbook too, and it works very well, except for a few bells & whistles. I trust it more than its derivative, Ubuntu. I like the simple, uncluttered windows manager that allows me to put icons on the desktop, too.

Formerly I used RedHat, Mandrake, Kubuntu and Mepis. The last one based on Debian stable. This led me to try pure Debian. It worked perfectly on 6 different systems my family and I have around. Some time ago, people said than Debian was difficult to install. Not now; it has Live-CDs and graphical installer (but I do prefer the text based one: it is clear, comprehensive, and let you do/undo steps). KDE is my favourite DE, but you can install and use a lot of them and run Debian on the bigger choice of platforms available.

On the other hand there is the GREAT AMOUNT of software available through apt, Synaptic, etc. *.DEB packages are almost an standard for many software editors.

As for now, I consider Debian being the final station of "distro-hopping". You reach the top already.

Unlike Ubuntu, Debian 6.0 did not offer WL BCM4312 drivers/package. So I could not get the wireless part to work. My skill use in terminal usage is terrible. So I'm looking for another distro that will give me the drivers ready to install for Broadcom WL. I would like to use it wirelessly; enjoy the clean look of things, and the pop-up menus instead of the icons. That keeps the desktop clean and less strain on the eyes.

Excellent in Stability and Usability. Largest number of software packages in repository.

Cons:

Not beginner friendly. Especially those migrating from Windows.

-Perfect for older and newer hardwares.
-Excellent package management system.
-Netinstall cd allows one to install linux from scratch, only required softwares can be installed. This allows one to install it on few GB of hard disk space only. (I have installed it on 2GB with GUI, web browser etc.)